Dev Room Progress Report Vol. 3

In this month’s update we present to you our third development report!

Who’s this new face…? Please check it out!

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Thank you for watching and we hope you enjoyed it!

We have also been receiving questions from our backers regarding our plans to participate in upcoming game shows.
While our schedule has yet to be finalized, we will be devoting June to game development and as a result, will unfortunately not be participating in any game shows. On the other hand, we look forward to bringing you our monthly updates and hope you do too!

Looking forward to playing the game a Christmastime this year. As opposed to if it arrives at Christmastime 2019, at which point the bitterness of most of the Kickstarter backers will dissolve the flesh of the team.

Hello team, and greetings to the person who runs the Kickstarter updates ;-)

As I pretty much agree with what has been commented before : I'm glad with this graphic style (want to watch some fighting scene in action haha) ; and we've been told a few about your overall progress in the making (I wish we could see some 3D assets like random items, or places, GUI, etc.) like you did before.

"人心齐，泰山移" rén xīn qí, tài shān yí
(When people work with one mind, they can even remove Mount Taishan.)

Nice glimpse into the character modelling. I also dig the traditional 2d art. I can smell a nice artbook coming ;p Anyway don't worry about the impatient backers and take your time. I trust you will complete this project. I don't care how long it takes so long you it's not rushed out poorly.

It does appear to me that the Shenmue III team is behind schedule for a December 2017 release. They struggle even to release small monthly updates, the culmination of which doesn't show very much progress at this point. Choosing not to attend any trade shows furthers the appearance of being behind schedule.

Does anyody trust Kickstarter release dates? I certainly didn't when I backed this. As far as the updates are concerned, I'm happy with these short videos showing just a glimpse of content. It would be foolish to divert a bunch of man-hours from the finished game in order to have a glut of update content.

Before posting complaints about delays or minimal content in these update videos, think back on the E3 2015 reveal of Shenmue III for some perspective on what is important. https://www.youtube.com/watch…

It don't look promising if all they have to show in 2 years's a single character model... Why not show 20 of them instead, are you saying you cannot compile more than a single proof to show us after 2 years. No music composition, no 3D area in 3D asset, no main character design, no proof of source code being worked on in a single picture. No meaning less dialog or sandbox video of early debug build of example Ryo asking a shop for direction or anything. I have seen the beta disc of Shenmue 1 for dreamcast and it has more proof you could show than you had in 2 years. We are not asking for final result stuff, if you don't have the BGM made into Flac or MP3, you could show the music partition, some 3D model of a crate or a forklift remake in HD, some people in the work using the engine and showing a single example. You need a very imaginative mind to use asset in non final form to say it's a spoiler when 99% of the result they thing got them spoiled was false miss conception from fantard. I am sure you might have at less 50 character model already made, i am sure 20 of them are simply filler background character which could be used has proof of what you did, some QTE event of non sense proof, insignifiant battle, remake of those boxing QTE or QTE 2 game, the slot machine, a figure dispenser with some figure sample, no need to make the machine working, only a 3D asset would does and we would shutup. At a normal low budget studio, you would be able to show 20 random 3D asset easily when a final game have more than 2000, maybe even in the 10000 for a game on the scale of shenmue. You are not transparent enough with the proof of our hard earned money we gave you. If you cannot make the deadline with a big margin or lack of funding, just be honest and say it. If you need fund, try to ask any coorporation to gave you some funding for a % share of the final retail sale money made from those game sold outside kickstarter. I am sure there's a big bunch of fan sceptic about Kickstarter which waited for steam release instead since they don't care about physical and heard about the paypal posibility for later. But without any proof, they will not give you any money by paypal until there's proof it will happen soon so they don't get burn like us. I really start to be worry about this kickstarter and i start to believe in it being a vaporware and if i had the posibility, i would ask for a refund at this point. I was really hoping for E3 announcement since you choose E3 before instead of Tokyo Game Show in september, with that, i start to have doubt they will announce anything for TGS too and they might also skip it or say they are delaying it on TGS which you would had lost more support from fan during summer. I am done doing the retard loyal fanboy after i got burn by Big N when i was a poor teenager and now i am an angry grinch who critic anything not making any fucking sense. If by september we still have no fucking more proof, it's either vaporware or delayed for a fuck tons of time (2 year at less) or they where lying to us, trying to make a quick buck between a bunch of people buy buying proof under 100k and pocket the rest of 6m+ USD they got. The only 2 big gaming event outside random reveal are E3 and TGS which are very close, so them skipping the first one which they embraced at first make it strange.

I would rather have 2-3 delays and have ALL the content added (including all that which didnt get the funding but could be added as DLC to cover the costs anyway) before launching in spring/summer 2018 with an E3 2018 showcase as a finale piece to have a live on-stage thankyou to every single backer who made this game a reality

PLS take your time guys! Your fans would appreciate a well polished game over that is delayed over a half-baked effort that is on schedule. Take a note from Red Dead Redemption 2 and the Mass Effect:Andromeda release.

Can't wait until I get my hands on this game tho. Keep up the hard work guys!

Don't rush the game !! Get more funding if you can allow shenmue 1 and 2 HD to come out . To be honest this character looks like one of the street fighter type characters from shenmue 2 . Like the ones you arm wrestled or fought for money .

@Draikin: Thank you for asking but I am afraid, I can not discuss anything more than what is officially available for public. You can refer to Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Update #26 or visit my Twitter bio @novinworksplus to find out what is available about my title Executive Shenmue Ambassador. Thank you very much.

Just another non hate comment here. Keep up the good work. Someone has to acknowledge what's been done so far, all the hard work that isn't visible to everyone. There's plenty of us here who appreciate the good work you guys are putting in. We can wait. Thanks for making Shenmue 3 possible.

Yet another crappy update from the team! It's been two years and where are we now? some interviews, new people joining the team, and what seems to be ONE, almost completed, character. Hoo'ray, let's all be so supportive. Yay. (I said sarcastically)

How about a real update!? NO MORE PEOPLE TALKING ON CAMERA. Just give us a few paragraphs with actual substance. You can literally "read" the frustration with some of these nice comments. People biting their tongue so they don't seem rude or disrespectful or whatever.

No one is telling you to rush but give us SOMETHING! How far behind are you guys? How many characters have been completed? Has any part of the game play, what's so ever, even begun? How do the toy capsules look? Can we listen to some of the soundtracks? Did you guys add/take away anything to the game after the kickstarter? If so, what?

Thanks for the update. I can't wait to play this game... when it's done. And not a day sooner. I never believed December, 2017 for a second. If it happens, great. But I'd rather a string of delays than an unpolished release.

I don't want them to rush the game, Joshua, but they should probably admit they're behind schedule at this point. It's obvious they are, unless they're really hiding the game from our eyes. I can't imagine they're anywhere near where they were meant to be. We haven't seen any environments, combat, Ryo's model, QTEs, mini games, NPCs (well, I guess this new model they mocked up is an NPC), etc. I can stand the wait. Most of us have already waited 15+ years, so whatever.

All i can say is PLEASE don't listen to whoever is telling you "show" the game" "rush" the game etc. in ANYWAY! they are NOT TRUE FANS! or the TRUE VOICE of your audience. look at friday the 13th. RUSHED! by TOOOOO MANY PEOPLE and it's those SAME PEOPLE that are now complaining about having a messy,buggy,UNFINISHED game! please do not let what happened to friday the 13th happen to shenmue 3 just because of whiny cry babies who want to rush things and can't comprehend patience. shenmue 3 has been waited for toooooo long (something NONE of the dipshit community got with friday the 13th OR THE HORRIBLE devs that got the rights to do that game and ALLOWED it to happen) i will wait LONGER if i have to what i DON'T want to see is what just happened with friday the 13th. a game that SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN RUSHED (so we we ALL could have had a FINISHED game and just less bugs etc and a TRUE RETURN for jason in video games) but it gets rushed because of whiny impatient cry babies and now look? it has mixed reviews, got tons of hate and bashing, a LOT of refunds and all just within the first 3-4 days of release. PLEASE DON'T LISTEN TO THOSE IDIOTS! because THEY WILL BE THE SAME PEOPLE who complain when the game ISN'T WHAT THEY EXPECTED BECAUSE OF THEIR RUSHING! TAKE ALL THE TIME YOU NEED! WE TRUE FANS ARE NOT RUSHING YOU IN ANYWAY! i just want SHENMUE 3 but THE WAY IT'S MEANT TO BE! i know this is yu and you're def better than the bone heads that got the license for friday the 13th for them to even dare claim they have ANY love and passion for that franchise then to allow what they did to happen, is truth enough NONE of them actually care about Ft13th and it was just a way for them to "try" and cash grab (using that license instead of their original game that MOST LIKELY WOULD HAVE FAILED without that franchise being behind it) at least yu cares about shemue 3 TRULY cares about it, to the point where he wouldn't even have let another one be made UNLESS he had part in it. so please Yu and everyone else DON'T SELL OUT JUST BECAUSE OF WHINY IMPATIENT LITTLE CHILDREN! they ruin pretty much EVERY game, friday the 13th is just a GREAT example of recent ones they ruined. just PLEASE don't do that with this game. take as long as you need, we will wait, we already have been for years, just PLEASE gives us the true shenmue 3 we all want, and have been waiting for, not some rushed product just because of a couple of whiny cry babies. go take a look at the store page for friday the 13th (a game that SHOULD have OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE REVIEWS! if it was DONE RIGHT AND NOT RUSHED, shame on the cry babies who rushed it, but more so a shame on the so called "passionate" devs who gave in to the crying and allowed it to happen) it has "mixed" reviews (more negative than positive) and like i said TONS of refunds within the first few days. i just don't want to see that with shenmue 3, i got ps4 version anyways, but i still want to see (what we should see with a proper shenmue 3 release) and OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE review on the front of that store page come DAY ONE RELEASE! so PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TAKE ALL THE TIME YOU NEED! just PLEASE MAKE IT HOW WE ALL WANT IT AND HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR IT! THANK YOU AND YOU ALL KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! <3

Could you clarify your involvement with the project? From what I can gather, you're from a company called Novinworks which handles "Marketing Campaign and Public Relations". Am I correct in assuming that Ys NET hired you to handle the PR for Shenmue 3?

I think it's reasonable to assume that this game won't be released in 2017. Nothing shown indicates that there's anything close to a working game at this point. The first trailer remains the most impressive demo we've seen so far. We also still haven't seen the character's updated faces, which is what I personally find the most surprising. The poorly photoshopped screenshots using Ryo's face from the old games also didn't exactly make a good impression.

I think the concern that backers have shared here and elsewhere isn't so much about a potential delay. Anyone how backed Kickstarter projects knows how often they get delayed. Game development in particular is susceptible to delays because you can't create a game "by the numbers". It's a very organic process and a game can transform dramatically throughout development. The concern has more to do with the budget. If the game is delayed, which seems likely at this point, continued development also means added costs. You gave some examples of games that were delayed. However, all these were backed by publishers with deep pockets. That's not the case here.

Well first of all the target release December 2017 was obvious too short form 2015.

It's a 3d adventure/fighting game in a fully/semi-fully interactive environment. Small budget (compared to AAA titles) a new small team creating our beloved new shenmue game.

Rome was not built in one day, nor this game. Just relax and wait, yu-san won't disappoint us. Shenmue's 20th anniversary is in December 2019, I've set my shenmue III release there (earlier is a bonus)

And oh, remember a other kickstarter game? Mighty no 9? Simple 2d platform game, delayed almost two years......

Just pop in shenmue in your Dreamcast and play, wait for yu-san, I have waited since 2001 for the third game.

Hopefully sega bring us the hd remastered two first games this year, hopefully announced at e3

Here is what you need to know if you are wondering about the release date of Shenmue 3 or game development schedules in general!

No changes in regards to Shenmue 3's release date has been reported as of today.

However since early days at Shenmue.link/order's FAQs it has been officially noted that the schedule may change as project evolves for best possible results.

To break this down further if anything changes then please keep below game dev note in mind:

And that is "If games get delayed to be great they will be just late. But if games get rushed and that causes them to turn bad, they will be bad forever. Here are some classic delayed versus rushed game development examples-> http://bit.ly/2ry6mg8 (Like Half Life and Zelda; BOTW which did not get rushed and Evolve and ME: Andromeda which both got rushed and we all know how each of these turned out)."

Of course, this is one general point of view. But one that is critical to know for successful devs.

I hope this comment finds you well so that everyone can maintain calm while enjoying this journey, as we need to be united for best results to be achieved. Together we can better boost the Shenmue 3 awareness.

If you need to share these information with other fellow Shenmue family members I have made two tweets below for you to share both with them:

It's very hard what to make of all this. A part of me is glad that they seem to be working on the game really hard, pushing for that Decemember release date and giving us updates a bit more. I'm not surprised about E3 though, this is a kickstarter game after all.

It's just we are all on the fence about what is going on with Shemue 3. Are we going to get a trailer soon, actual gameplay footage? Will the game get delayed? Please provide us with a trailer for the summer Ys Net. We don't know what is going on.

Love the look of this character and how close it looks compared to the concept model! The animation looks smooth too! As for E3, it would have been cool to have a trailer, but I prefer to know the team is at work on the game rather than spending time, money and energy to prepare something for such a big event like E3. When the game will be ready to be shown, they will please fans and gamers! Keep up the great work. Thank you for this update. Now SEGA... please #SaveShenmueHD!

However, I am frustrated that the team have not announced that the game will be delayed. It's clear that it is not going to happen and a little honesty would help. Maybe they're waiting until they have a satisfactory trailer before they make the announcement to reassure people that they have not wasted their money but even so, it's getting very late.

Given what we've seen so far, Q4 2018 seems like as reasonable estimate. My concern is if they have sufficient funds to continue development until then.

However, I am frustrated that the team have not announced that the game will be delayed. It's clear that it is not going to happen and a little honesty would help. Maybe they're waiting until they have a satisfactory trailer before they make the announcement to reassure people that they have not wasted their money but even so, it's getting very late.

Given what we've seen so far, Q4 2018 seems like as reasonable estimate. My concern is if they have sufficient funds to continue development until then.

Everyone keep your Titts and balls in check. Game development takes time and a game like Shenmue is going to take 5 years minimum for openworld like gameplay. Gta, Death Stranding, zero dawn all took/take time and their not heavy story based games(exempt Death Stranding - that's going to be a crazy bowel of cherries). Now those of you that can't wait replay shenmue 1&2, read a book or play witcher the card game but the wait is real and we're in for the long haul.

I would rather wait for a proper game trailer than having a patch up trailer like ubisoft and making high expectations from the beginning and in the end everyone is very disappointed ibecause the final game doesn't looks good like the one in the trailer (e.g. watchdogs)

Anyway great model! Looks like we are getting some battle grounds/cages like in Kowloon again :D

It's been almost 2 years and we still haven't seen proper gameplay. I'd like to see the progress you've made so far, rather than character models and new developers working on the project. I'd like to know the state of the game.